"It is dark," whispered Figasse. "You can get home with me. 1 live close by-Rue Tirechappe."

Looking out carefully, and biding their time, they gained the entrance to a large but dirty poverty-stricken house, but which had seen better days. "Diable!" Piednoir ventured to observe, as they kept ascending the dark and grimy staircase. "You live up aloft ?"

Figasse did not reply, but led on till they reached the garret; then passing out upon the roof, and signing Piednoir to follow, he dodged round a stack of chimneys, and entered at another window.

"Is this your home?" observed Piednoir.

pigeons."

"It is fit only for

Better, at all events, than the one you have just left. I have been so closely watched, that I had no other alternative."

"And how do you get your living, then?"

"I do not live. I am dying of hunger. But sit down, and I will go and see if I can pick up a few radishes."

At the expiration of an hour Figasse returned with a few trifles stolen in the neighbourhood; but the next evening he was less successful. The position became intolerable; the two convicts were dying of hunger and thirst, and they dare not go out in the daytime. The evening that followed Figasse's absence was unusually prolonged. Piednoir, rendered desperate by hunger and impatience, issued forth from his hiding-place, and descending the ladder which served as a staircase, he ventured into the corridors of the large old habitation. All was dark, but, feeling his way, he at length stumbled upon a door that was left open. To walk in, see if any one was there, and to strike a light with a match on the chimney, was the affair of a moment. But there was nothing but a baby asleep in the room-nothing at least eatable-and he was going to withdraw with a few odds and ends he had laid his hands upon, when the mother made her appearance at the door. He was about to raise his knife, when he started back upon recognising the duchess. She, on her part, could scarcely refrain from a scream of horror when she discovered whom she had to do with. A long scene of mutual recrimination ensued of prayers and entreaties on the part of Piednoir to be once more taken back as a penitent husband, of haughty and inflexible resolve on the part of the poor lady to have nothing to do with such a miscreant. At length the bad instincts of the man got the upper hand, and in his exasperation he seized upon the child, and, rushing to the window, swore that if she would not be his he would throw it into the street. At that moment the door opened, and Henri de Candas hurried in, accompanied by Madame de Villa-Renald, who had been in every direction seeking for their broken-hearted runaway friend. The duchess cast her purse at the feet of the wretch, saying, "Fly for your life!" Piednoir did not wait to be twice advised, but the poor little baby was no more!

When Piednoir reached his "dovecot," his mate bird was already there, and greatly was he rejoiced at seeing the duchess's purse.

"It won't go far," remarked Figasse; "but I have made a discovery. What do you think? La Juanita lives nearly opposite to us. I saw her at the window, for she never goes out; she has both money and diamonds. The street is not wide; the ladder would reach across it. It is rather venturesome, but there is something to gain by the venture!"

"Let us strengthen the inner man," simply observed Piednoir, “and then we will try.'

Figasse went out, and with the aid of the duchess's purse a better repast was obtained than they had enjoyed for days past. The vile charcuterie of horseflesh was pronounced exquisite, and the rough and sour "piquette" was declared to be delicate as Château Margot.

Figasse placed the ladder across the street at nightfall, and many lugubrious jokes were bandied between the wretches as to the distance they would fall in case of a catastrophe. They little knew they were being watched by Henri de Candas, who, upon Piednoir's hasty retreat from the duchess's rooms, had resolved upon finding out where the murderer was hid, and to give him up to justice. He saw the two convicts cross the street, not at the same time, but the one after the other, for safety's sake, and he did not hesitate for a moment to follow on the dangerous venture. He just arrived in time to see Figasse rush in by the garret window, and swift as lightning to strike La Juanita with his knife, at the very moment that she was counting over her ill-gotten gains. matters did not finish here. After securing the valuables, the miscreants possessed themselves of her papers, and soon found what they were seekfor-the act of marriage with Hector de Candas.

ing

But

"The year 1814, the 10th of June, were united at this mayoralty Joseph Hector de Candas, son of André Remy de Candas-" Pied noir read out, when he was interrupted by his brutal companion:

"We know all that.

What of La Juanita's antecedents ?"

66 6 With,' continued Piednoir,

'Jeanne Marie Figasse, natural daughter of Jean Pierre Figasse, tradesman of Marseilles, and of Julie Sophie Dinaux, native of Cette.' "

"Wretch that I am! I have killed my daughter!" exclaimed Figasse. "My poor little Jeanne! poor Jeanne!"

"Sad work!" observed Piednoir; "but we must be off!"

"I cannot leave my poor daughter!" replied Figasse" dead! dead!" "The d-l take her soul!" ejaculated Piednoir. "Come along!" "Ah! is it thus you take matters ?" replied Figasse, lifting up his knife.

"What! are you mad? Would you fight with me?"

"Yes! I am mad with grief and rage." And he rushed at his partner in crime. The struggle scarcely lasted a minute. Figasse was furious with passion. Piednoir was cool with apprehension. Seizing his antagonist's arm, he plunged his knife deep into his heart, and the extutor fell dead at his feet.

"Well," said Piednoir, "I have got rid of both now. The coast is at length clear before me."

Henri, who had been a shuddering spectator of the frightful events enacted in that garret upon this fatal night, hearing that Piednoir was about to make his escape, hurried on his knees across the aërial bridge. Once on the other side, he bided his time. When Piednoir had by a similar process got half way over, he suddenly shouted, "Stop there!" "Who's that?" asked the miscreant, taken aback.

"I! Henri de Candas, come to avenge a father and a mother!" So saying, he pushed the ladder with his foot, and the wretched criminal was precipitated into the street below.

62

AN UNHAPPY VALLEY.

If we cast our eyes upon the map towards the extreme North of India, we shall observe the gigantic chain of the Himalaya mountains running in a north-westerly direction until they strike the Indus River on the confines of Budukshan. At about the thirty-fourth degree of latitude they bifurcate, and the country within the two forks so extended, nearly to the Indus River, is the famous valley of Cashmere, the reputed birthplace of "the Shepherd Kings;" the Pandus, who flourished at the time that Moses was giving laws to the children of Israel; and probably the "Caspapyrus" of Herodotus, and the "Pandæan country" of Ptolemy— a land, in short, whose annals date from the earliest pages of the world's history, and compared with which those of few other countries can lay claim to a greater degree of interest, or to a higher antiquity.

Originally, according to universal tradition, a lake (an assertion which late 'geological inquiries has fully confirmed), Cashmere was (the Raj Taringani, a native compilation derived from the earliest Sanscrit sources, informs us) formerly called "Sutty Sir"—that is, the reservoir of " Sutty" -or Mahadeo's wife-and after being drained of its waters by supernatural means, was peopled by a colony of the Brahminical religion, and of “Sourujbunsi” or "Sun" origin. According to Professor Wilson, this event occurred about 2666 years before Christ.

Thenceforward its early history is, for very many centuries, like the early history of most other countries, so obscured by fable as to be of little, if of any value. The pages of the old native chroniclers abound chiefly in astounding assertions. Noor Ul Deen, for instance, commencing ab initio, informs us that, after his fall, Adam resided in Cashmere, and that the descendants of Seth continued to rule over it for 1110 years! According to Bediadeen, Moses and Solomon both visited it, and the latter made his son "Isaun" king, who reigned twenty-five years! With greater probability Cyrus is reported to have invaded the country, which has certainly more than once been overrun with Scythian hordes; and Alexander the Great, it is universally believed, penetrated into Cashmere, and left behind him a colony of Grecians. Some face is given to the statement by the curious Grecian element which undoubtedly pervades many of the ruins still to be found existing.

A long list of kings and princes who ruled over the valley is given by Aboolfuzl; but it is only from about the time that England was emerging from barbarism that the native accounts become tolerably full, and bear some aspect of probability.

It is to be hoped that an Orientalist will one day arise who will bring together and collate the many valuable records concerning Cashmere that now lie scattered in different directions, and compile them into one connected whole. In the mean time, we must be permitted to express the universal feeling of regret that prevails, and has never ceased to prevail throughout India, at the short-sighted cession of the valley to Golab Singh, on the 16th of March, 1846, for a paltry sum of 750,000l.; in consequence of which, this, the fairest gem of our Indian empire, has for twenty-one long years been the scene of grinding oppression and misrule,

to such an extent, indeed, that vast numbers of its wretched inhabitants, utterly disheartened by the exactions of their native rulers, have left their own country in despair and sought refuge in our dominions. And though the rule of Golab Singh was bad enough, that of his successor, the present Maharajah Rundbir Singh, is infinitely worse.

Monsieur Lejean, in his article in the Revue des Deux Mondes, entitled "Les Anglais sur l'Indus," remarks: "Cashmere was given by the Company as a fief to Golab Singh, a prince who had had the tact to ally himself with the victorious English, and who was succeeded by his son Rundbir Singh, the present Maharajah. His dependence upon the rulers of India is solely nominal, for he possesses all the autonomous rights of a king, and even the power of driving away from his dominions, by the imposition of oppressive duties collected with unrelenting severity, the commerce of India, in which is necessarily comprised all that which would pass over his territories en route for, and from, Turkestan and Thibet. A prince of the true Asiatic type, elegant and. of sensual habits, Rundbir governs his rich territory in a manner that Tiberius himself would not have dared to exercise in his empire; and nourishes a sullen and violent hatred for his English masters, whose benevolent rule presents so eloquent and striking a contrast to his own rapacious despotism. England has not as yet taken much notice of his ill will, but, should any serious crisis occur, she will immediately regret having ceded in 1849, for financial considerations, to a dynasty disloyal to herself, the administration of such a country. The Maharajah is the real guardian of the Himalayan passes dividing India from Chinese Tartary, which latter country Russia will certainly conquer one day, and he who is the custodian of these passes has the power of surrendering their keys to any invader whose progress appears to him to serve his own malicious ends. England will, therefore, be driven, for her own safety, to take a measure long looked-for by the inhabitants of Cashmere-namely, to annex the valley."

But the English government in India has been of late years timid of purpose and slow of action, and the reign of terror in the "Unhappy Valley" continues to exist unchecked in all its pristine enormity up to this present time. The representations that have been made to Rundbir Singh on the subject are simply thrown away, and some stronger measures are requisite in order to bring about the slightest amelioration of affairs. The only practical step that has been taken by us in what appears to be the right direction, is the temporary appointment of an English officer to reside at Leh, in Ladak, the capital city of the Thibetian dominions of the Maharajah, for the purpose of supervising the trade which passes through that place-a trade which would assume enormous proportions were the present iniquitous fiscal system of extortion removed.

Dr. Cayley is the present Resident at Leh, and we learn from the latest Indian journals that already the first result of his presence has been the temporary suppression of the exactions exercised by the Cashmere officials on the route between Lahoul and Khoten, whilst the officials in question are loud in their promises of reform and amendment. The Maharajah has also, at Dr. Cayley's urgent remonstrances, removed some of the most notorious of the Cashmerian employés, and many of

VOL. LXII.

F

the duties on the articles coming from Koolloo have been reduced. Spices, for instance, are now fourteenpence instead of half-a-crown a maund, and cotton goods are fourteenpence instead of five shillings for the same quantity. The tax on horses exported via Koolloo and Yanztizig has been wholly removed, but will certainly be reimposed the moment Dr. Cayley leaves. The permanent appointment of a British agent is, therefore, urgently required; nor is it easy to see why Dr. Cayley is not permitted to remain at his post. Already envoys from Budukshan and Kokan, two of the most populous and civilised of the kingdoms of Central Asia, have hastened to assure the latter that traders of all kinds, especially Europeans, will be warmly welcomed in their respective kingdoms. Yakoob Khosh Begee, the new ruler of Yarkund, has made a similar repre

sentation.

Surely such an opening as this should not be neglected. "Lords Dalhousie and Canning, and even Lord Elgin, longed for such an entrance into Eastern Turkistan as the Chinese refused, and the Mussulmans now entreat us to avail ourselves of, and it seems marvellous that there should be so much indifference to the opening." Nor are the traders in our own territory less eager to avail themselves of the new field for their produce and merchandise, which seems about to be established. Tarachand, the Negee of Lahoul, has, we hear, been of active assistance to Dr. Cayley in his difficult mission, exposed as he has been to a system of espionage and intimidation on the part of the Maharajah's people. Traders from Rampore and Koolloo, who had never tried this route before, as long as the passes remained open, poured into Leh, anxious to dispose of their wares, and reliant upon the presence of a British agent for protection and justice. They will be sadly disappointed next year, when this safeguard will be withdrawn; and as an illustration of the tyranny to which they may again look forward, we will give the history of one Purbhoo Shah.

This man was at one time a merchant residing at Leh, where he traded partly on his own account, and partly as agent for the Maharajah of Cashmere and his ministers. These personages were not, it appears, above seeking good interest for their money, for we find that Purbhoo Shah paid to one of them, the Wuzeer Zorawur, a neat little rate of just eighteen per cent. upon the capital that passed through his hands. Still, notwithstanding this clog upon his exertions, trade with Yarkund proved so profitable, that Purbhoo Shah acquired a large fortune-so large, indeed, as to excite the cupidity of the Wuzeer, who adopted the orthodox Oriental plan of allowing his victim to fatten sufficiently, and then sacrificing him.

A man named Ramjie Mull, and the notorious Labhjie, the Thanadar of Leh, were the agents selected to carry out the Wuzeer's designs. At a time when they well knew that the greater part of Purbhoo Shah's money and property was profitably employed in the Yarkund market, these men suddenly pounced down upon the unfortunate merchant, and demanded an immediate settlement of accounts. In vain he prayed for delay, and called attention to his richly laden caravans then wending their way over the Karakorum Pass. They ruthlessly seized the whole of his property that remained in Leh, and, holding a mock auction, divided the spoil. The poor man was so affected by